The NFL’s “Somebody | It Takes All of Us” is the most emotionally-engaging ad of Super Bowl LIX.
That’s according to new research from creative effectiveness platform DAIVID, which found the spot, which features NFL players mentoring children, generated the most intense positive emotions of any ad shown during last night’s Big Game. The ad also attracted the highest attention levels of any spot shown.
DAIVID – an AI platform that helps marketers by predicting the effectiveness of their creative at scale – used its advanced testing platform to find out which Super Bowl advertisers had the biggest impact on the hearts, minds and wallets of viewers. As well as analyzing the emotions generated by all the Big Game spots, the creative effectiveness platform also looked at the effectiveness of each campaign on brand and business metrics. Key findings include:
Least effective Super Bowl since 2020
- Overall, ads from Super Bowl 2025 were the least effective for five years. Using DAIVID’s proprietary Creative Effectiveness Score (CES) – a composite metric which combines the three main drivers of effectiveness: attention, emotions and memory – the average Super Bowl LIX ad scored 6.2 out of 10, which is the lowest average since 2020.
- The average ad generated intense positive emotions among 47.4% of viewers, 3% lower than the US norm and the lowest since 2023. The ads also generated the lowest amount of attention since 2020.
NFL’s “Somebody” is most emotionally engaging ad of Super Bowl 2025
- “Somebody | It Takes All of Us” attracted the most intense positive emotions of the Super Bowl ads. Altogether 55.8% of viewers had an intense emotional reaction to the ad, including feelings of warmth 73% higher than the US average. The spot also scored well above the US norm for admiration (+107%), inspiration (+68%) and pride (+69%). The ad also attracted the strongest levels of attention of any Super Bowl LIX ad – 9% higher than the average US ad for the first few seconds and 13% higher than the norm for the last 3 seconds.
- That put it just ahead of Jeep’s “Owner’s Manual", starring Harrison Ford, in second, which attracted an intense positive emotional response from 54.2% of viewers, and “What Is Greatness?”, from “He Gets Us”, in third (53.3%). Rocket’s “Own The Dream” and Pfizer’s “Knock Out” also made the top 5. Other brands to make the top 10 include Mountain Dew, Lay’s and Budweiser (chart below).
Super Bowl advertisers tried to make us laugh, but serious ads dominate top 10
- Overall, Super Bowl LIX advertisers aimed to make people laugh this year, with 49 of the 65 ads having amusement as their top emotion. However, despite most Super Bowl advertisers trying to be funny, seven of the top 10 spots in DAIVID’s chart are taken up by purpose-driven spots or campaigns that tackle serious themes.
- The ad that generated the most laughs is Mountain Dew’s “Kiss From a Lime”, which was 72% funnier than the average US ad. However, it is short of last year’s funniest Super Bowl ad, Paramount+’s “Paramount Mountain”, which was 84% funnier than the US norm. The funniest moment? Seal’s “Good-looking Seal” joke at the end.
- Spots from Doordash and Dunkin Donuts were second and third respectively. Overall, it’s the least funny Super Bowl for three years.
Top 10 Most Emotionally Engaging Super Bowl 2025 ads (Feb 10)
| RANK | BRAND | CAMPAIGN | % of people who had intense positive emotional responses |
| 1. | NFL | “Somebody | It Takes All of Us | 55.8% |
| 2. | Jeep | “Owner’s Manual” | 54.2% |
| 3. | He Gets Us | “What Is Greatness?” | 53.3% |
| 4. | Rocket | “Own The Dream | 52.6% |
| 5. | Pfizer | “Knock Out” | 52.3% |
| 6. | MSC Cruises | “Let’s Holiday” | 51.3% |
| 7. | Mountain Dew | “Kiss From A Lime” | 51.2% |
| 8. | Lay’s | “The Little Farmer” | 51.0% |
| 9. | Dove | “These Legs” | 50.9% |
| 10. | Budweiser | “First Delivery” | 50.2% |
| US NORM | 48.7% |
Ian Forrester, CEO and founder of creative effectiveness platform DAIVID, said: “With the vast majority of Super Bowl advertisers trying to make us laugh this year, it’s interesting that brands that stepped away from the usual Super Bowl celebrity/humor trope have attracted the most positivity. It shows just how hard it is to cut-through when so many are trying the same approach. With overall effectiveness also down, maybe it’s time brands tried something different to get people’s attention on game day.”
Methodology
DAIVID's Super Bowl study was compiled using its AI-powered platform, DAIVID Self-Serve. Trained using tens of millions of human responses to ads, the solution predicts the emotions an ad will generate, and its likely impact on brand and business metrics – enabling advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their ad campaigns at scale. AI models are built by combining facial coding, eye tracking and survey data with computer vision and computer listening APIs. Altogether, 65 Super Bowl ads broadcast during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast were included in the study. Data for the chart was compiled at 6am (EST) on February 10, 2025. Trailers and regional ads were not included in the research.
Email [email protected] to find out more about DAIVID.
About DAIVID
DAIVID is a global creative effectiveness platform whose AI-powered solutions help marketers and content creators improve the effectiveness of their ad campaigns at scale.
The global company’s technology analyzes videos and images on a mass scale, predicting viewer emotions, attention levels, and potential impact on brand metrics. DAIVID’s data and insight streams can be used by marketers to measure, benchmark and optimize the performance of their content. The platform can also be integrated into third party ad platforms and marketing models to enhance data accuracy and improve campaign targeting and performance. Clients include Nike, Snapchat and EssenceMediacom.